Timeline: Earth's Precarious Future

Humans will face widespread water shortages. Famine and disease will increase. Earth

2008

Arctic sea ice hits its second lowest summer ice extent on record (the lowest extent was in 2007). A massive chunk of ice breaks away from Greenland’s Petermann Glacier. Several breakups of ice shelves in Antarctica are observed. (NSIDC; Jason Box, Ohio State University; ESA, NSIDC)

Global oil production peaks sometime between 2008 and 2018, according to a model by a Swedish physicist. Others say this turning point, known as “Hubbert